Coul Links Project Update

After the oral presentation run through with the tutors a couple of weeks ago, there were some suggestions which prompted some rethinking of the project parameters. These ideas were further cemented in the 1 to 1 session with Gary and the discovery of some relevant work by others.

The most significant modification is that the project can and will go ahead regardless of the outcome of the Highland Council decision on the planning application. The land at Coul Links is in it’s our right an ever changing landscape that supports a rich and varied biodiversity throughout the year. It is a site subject to dramatic changes through the various seasons of the year, both physically and in terms of the wildlife that inhabits it. It is subject more subtle changes on a day to day basis with weather and light, which depending on the direction and angle reveals characteristics of the landscape not necessarily visible at other times. It is a dynamic ecologically with plants that appear and thrive at different times of the year, and with the ebbing and spreading of native species, as well as the encroachment of invasive species.

Should the planning application to build the golf course be approved, Coul Links will undergo a rapid and dramatic change that is man-made and documenting those changes as they occur and how those changes affect the surrounding areas directly and indirectly.

Although I was essentially planning a large rephotography effort, I had not been familiar with the term. Learning that vocabulary opened a rich bibliography of relevant resources upon which to draw, such as Repeat Photography (Webb), Mark Klett’s work on the “Rephotographic Survey Project” and “Yosemite in Time”. I was also introduced to Sophie Gerrard’s project “The Dunes”, which while different in focus, bears some resemblance the circumstances in my project.

Now that I have arrived back in Scotland I will be able to capture some of the imagery I will use as the reference bases. The particularly harsh winter NE Scotland experienced this year has flooded the area behind the fore dunes quite extensively and considerably more than in recent memory. It gives the appearance of one enormous dune slack rather than the typical isolated ephemeral dune slacks. It is a glorious example of how dynamic and ever changing the Coul Links are in the face of the forces of nature.

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Ashley Rose

Ashley is a wildlife and nature photographer who focuses much of her work on birds. She is currently enrolled in the MA Photography Programme with Falmouth University in the UK. Her photographic work can be viewed more fully at Ashley Rose Photography – Chasing the Wild Life